Popular Collaboration Suite Gets Social with New Gadgets

Among those bent on attacking popular Web from every angle possible is productivity application suite provider, Zoho.

Last month we saw them kick out both an interface makeover and a multi-platform chat program. This time, certainly with aim to comply with social Web standards, they’re back with embeddable gadget versions of their applications.

Gadgets and Gizmos A-Plenty

In a more expected than brave attempt to go where they’ve never gone before, Zoho’s gadgets make it possible to offer their applications to iGoogle, Facebook and Orkut enthusiasts. In this first wave of gadget-play the company is offering up six of their primary tools for integration:

Zoho Docs: a gadget for managing Zoho Writer, Zoho Sheet, and Zoho Show files online. Users can create, edit and view documents, spreadsheets, and presentations from this gadget.

“Zoho Gadgets are really another way of giving Zoho users access to their data on Zoho and letting them work on Zoho from other applications,” said Raju Vegesna, Zoho evangelist. “A lot of people live in iGoogle, Facebook, orkut, and other online applications and communities. Now, they can embed Zoho Gadgets to gain ready access to their Zoho information from those third-party sites.”

All Zoho, All the Time

So, Zoho fanatics, now add a Zoho Docs widget to your Facebook and use it to view your most recent files in your account. Click on an item, open it and edit away. Use your Google and Zoho calendar in tandem, or, if you’re feeling saucy, replace your Google Calendar altogether. Even add the widgets to other Zoho applications, so long as they support embedding (like Zoho Notebook, Writer, Show and Wiki).

Additionally, by using the OpenSocial XML option, Zoho Gadgets can be added to Gmail sidebars (users must enable the Add Any Gadget option in Gmail Labs first).

“We have many users using Gmail for email and Zoho for documents. Such users can now use Zoho Gadgets inside Gmail. Zoho Gadget's OpenSocial support enables us to embed these gadgets inside Gmail,” continued Vegesna. “Users can use Zoho Docs, Calendar and Tasks gadgets inside Gmail.”

For the rest of the Web, a generic “Embed” button is available beside each gadget, and when clicked displays the HTML code that can be copied and pasted into any other applications, Web pages or blogs.

Go Go Gadget Zoho

Most everyone loves themselves a gadget or two, so it should come as no surprise that the company has plans to convert other applications into widget form as well, in addition to making them available from the desktops of Zoho Business and Zoho Personal.

Get your mitts on this first wave of new offerings here and tell us what you think.